On a recent trip to New York, I looked up my favorite jazz bar to see who was scheduled to play. The events page on their website was blank but I assumed it was a mistake - it's a pretty laid back place that has never been completely keen on staying current, I thought. I googled the bar instead and... nothing came up. It no longer was affiliated with the address at which it had been since 1919. And that's when I read "Permanently Closed."
I was devastated. I'd been going to this particular bar since 1999 and back then, I went so often that the barmen knew my order as soon as I walked in. I'd heard some of the best music of my life there and I even lead a singalong there (long story for another time) one snowy Christmas Eve. After over 100 years, it was closed? How could that be?
This has been the unfortunate reality for many former institutions around New York and I'm sure many of us feel like we're walking around a living ghost town as we point out what "used to be there." I can rattle off a long list here, but that's not really the point of the post.
While it hurts my heart that 55 Bar is no longer, I do understand that there comes a point of practicality. Jazz isn't as popular as it once was in New York and little clubs have long been struggling to survive. Tastes change, and while we can fight for preservation, we also have to understand what that means: it means insisting that someone is tasked with funding and maintaining spaces that are simply no longer viable. To preserve everything that once was would mean existing in an odd sphere in which nothing ever evolves or changes.
On the flip side of that, I've tried to think of it this way: places like New York and San Francisco have loads of empty retail and commercial space available, along with a young, educated, and creative population. What will they do with it? Places like 55 Bar and CBGB didn't become what they did overnight - they started out as hot spots supported by younger people. So what will todays 20 and 30 somethings create?
New York won't ever be quite the same for me without 55 Bar. But, I am eager to see what comes next.
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